


Please Trust Me?

by pennysparrow



Series: Flower Shop AU [7]
Category: Newsies (1992), Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Bisexual Jack Kelly, Coming Out, F/M, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst, Modern Era, i love that that's a tag, so joe doesn't show up but his presence is def felt, so technically, this takes place while the gang is all in college yet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-07
Updated: 2018-06-07
Packaged: 2019-05-19 06:34:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,141
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14868581
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pennysparrow/pseuds/pennysparrow
Summary: When Jack accidentally sees something on Kath's computer she jumps to conclusions and reacts badly.*One Shot*





	Please Trust Me?

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was spawned out of a single spark of dialogue I got while cleaning the bathroom and would have no actual plot without Supes letting me talk it out with her.

Katherine was hunkered down at their usual table in the dining hall, typing furiously on the laptop in front of her with a stack of unopened textbooks to her left and her open steno-book on her right. Crutchie was snacking on some fries absentmindedly to her left while he read an article and Racetrack was doing something vaguely math related across the table from her and taking up nearly as much space as she was. The untouched books and frantic clicking of keys was an obvious sign that she was working on an article and Was Not To Be Disturbed. Not that Jack paid any attention to that.

He plopped down into the vacant seat on her other side and grinned. “What’s the story, morning glory?”

“I swear to all that is holy in this world I will murder you Jack Kelly,” she growled lowly, praying that Race had been too focused to hear him. No such luck.

“What’s the word, hummingbird? Did you hear about Hugo and Kim?” Race sang with a wicked smile. The two boys high fived and Kath put her head in her hands, concentration thoroughly broken.

“Screw you,” Crutchie spat a line of expletives and the words “Birdie” and “Telephone Hour” and “stuck in my head” at Jack as he too abandoned his work.

“You guys look busy, I’ll- uh, just text you,” Specs had appeared behind Race mid Crutchie calling down a curse on the name Conrad Birdie. The expression on his face was priceless but he had learned that Jack’s antics could derail any serious discussion; so, he just gestured vaguely between herself and her boyfriend before beating a hasty retreat.

“Wonder what he wanted,” Jack looked after Specs curiously as he reached across Kath to steal one of his brother’s fries.

“Well if I had to hazard a guess I’d say it had something to do with the school paper,” Katherine said dryly. Smirking at Jack in the way she knew he found both infuriating and endearing.

She and Jack had been dating for a while now, having met in their freshmen seminar on fairy tales the first semester. They’d both bonded over their excitement at the assignment of watching the school’s production of Into the Woods and the friendship had turned into a relationship not long after.

They both kept busy when they weren’t in class, between him building sets for his mom and mandatory hours for the theater department and her with newspaper articles and the service fraternity she was joining. Though she’d convince him to start drawing cartoons for the school paper and had inadvertently opened the door for all sorts of newspaper related jokes and puns. Like the one that referenced one of her least favorite musicals and made her completely forget what she had been about to say.

With a sigh Kath made sure that the google doc was saved before switching tabs to her Tumblr. If she wasn’t going to be productive anymore than she was going to be really unproductive for the next few minutes. She scrolled mindlessly through her dash, liking a post from a mutual about a rewrite of a fanfiction they were working on, reblogging a theory on Harry Potter to her main.

Jack has started into some debate about whether or not Young Justice could possibly come back and had leaned his head on Kath’s shoulder as Race launched into a longwinded theory involving Netflix and petitions. She reached up a hand and ruffled Jack’s hair. He turned his head and nuzzled into her neck, brushing a light kiss there. Katherine smiled and continued scrolling. Someone had reblogged a post saying “Bi Guys, Gals, and Non-Binary Pals are Rad as Hell” and Kath grinned, reblogging it to both her blogs and tagging it as “yeah we are” each time.

Jack went to chime in with his two cents again and Kath squirmed, he was a little too loud a little too close to her ear. He lifted his head and gave her a quick kiss on the check in apology before leaning across the table to continue the conversation.

Katherine flicked her gaze to the clock in the corner of her screen and made a face. Closing her laptop she began to pack up her stuff, stealing a fry from Crutchie as she did so. “I’ve gotta run to class. I’ll see you guys for dinner?”

“Course,” Crutchie said, swatting away her hand as she grabbed for another of his fries.

“We still on for our date night tonight?” Jack asked as she shrugged her backpack on.

Katherine smiled, as if she would forget their date nights when it was one of the highlights of her week. “Yeah, you said that you had a surprise.”

Jack grinned and nodded as Kath waved to the trio of boys and walked away.

Katherine loved Saturday night dinners at the dining hall, most students headed off campus for the night which left the place nearly empty. At the beginning of the year she had gone with Darcy to Chipotle every chance she got but as she’d grown closer to the boys, and Jack in particular, that had stopped. Kath had once asked why they never just ordered takeout or something, Crutchie had just shot her a weird look and said “Uh, cause I’d like to actually pay Mr. Jacobi for my pancakes tomorrow? Rather than offer to wash his dishes for them.” Kath had felt herself blush but the guys all laughed and Jack threw an arm around her. “’Sides, if we’re paying for the meal plan we might as well get our money’s worth,” he said, giving her shoulders a squeeze. After that, Katherine never questioned the Saturday night dinners, just enjoyed them.

Tonight was just the five of them huddled around a table near the overlarge windows, soaking in the last of the late winter sun. Jack had piled his plate high with mashed potatoes on her left while Spot poked at a rice bowl to her right. On the other side of the circular table Crutchie and Race were sharing an overlarge sampling of the evening’s desserts while saying “treat yo self” between bites. At times like these Kath and her salad questioned how they could say that she had a worrying caffeine habit.

“No Finch or Albert tonight?” She asked, surprised that the two boys were nowhere in sight.

“Blink and Mush are having some video game tournament. They’re there,” Spot rolled his eyes but Kath couldn’t tell at what: Blink and Mush, video games, or Albert and Finch. After another second studying him out of the corner of her eye she decided it must be all of the above.

“A moment of silence for our absent brethren. Forever with us in spirit though not in corporal form,” Race said from around a mouthful of Fruit Loop bars.

“Never say that again,” Spot informed him with a raised brow.

“Yeah, no Racer. No,” Jack was shaking his head and trying to bite back a smile.

Crutchie looked Race in the eye, his face completely blank and said, “You worry me. Why did I ever befriend you?”

“Aww, c’mon! Katherine! Kath, back me up here?” he begged. “They’re ganging up on me!”

“Let’s just say there’s a reason you’re not an English major,” she shrugged.

Race scoffed, mock outrage and mock betrayal warring for his expression. “Et tu, Pumba?”

The table erupted into a cacophony of swearing and “Lion King? Seriously?” “Why ya gotta be like this? This is why we’re ya only friends!” “’S miracle Al can live with ya. No wonder he’s not here.”

Kath just waited the boys out, staring Race down. Finally, they quieted, and she slowly raised her eyebrows and spoke in a deadly whisper. “You come into my house, and can’t even bother to quote the Bard? Preferring a meerkat over him? Never mind the fact that Shakespeare was likely proud to have Nathan Lane as a talking meerkat say that line in an adaptation of one of his greatest works that involved anthropomorphism and singing hyenas,” Kath said the last part hastily, knowing that it would at the very least make Crutchie snort. “That is irrelevant. I’m greatly offended by you Racetrack Higgins for performing such sacrilege. Dishonor on you, dishonor on your family, and most of all dishonor on your cow.”

Race blinked, his mouth opening and closing a few times as for once he was struck really and truly speechless. Around them the other three boys howled with laughter and Kath felt her lips twitching up into a smirk. Jack hugged her in pride and she laughed, turning her head to kiss him. Comparatively the rest of the meal was rather tame.

They parted ways long after the sun had finally set; Crutchie and Race dragging a rather begrudging Spot – though Kath highly suspected that was an act – off toward Mush and Blink’s dorm. They waved them off and wished them luck. Then, Kath linked her fingers through Jack’s and gave his hand a quick squeeze. He smiled at her and squeezed her hand back before leading her down the sidewalk.

“So where are you taking me tonight?” Katherine teased, though she knew that he could tell she was genuinely curious.

“Nuh uh, it’s a surprise,” Jack shook his head and swung their linked hands. Kath pouted, trying out her best puppy dog eyes on him. “Noooope. Don’t even. You surprised me with that art show and poetry reading last week so now I get to do the honors.”

Kath huffed but she was smiling at him. “Did you enjoy it?”

“You know that I did. You even convinced me to submit one of my pieces,” Jack smiled but it was subdued, a nervous upward twitch of his lips. She rubbed her thumb along the back of his hand resulting in a slight widening of his smile. “And,” Jack added quickly, “I got you to read one of your poems. That was really cool.”

Ducking her head, Katherine felt herself blush. Not that Jack would notice under the dim glow of the streetlights. “It was… Something,” she murmured.

“It was amazing. You’re a great writer, Katherine. Of just about everything. And, you’ve got a lot in there,” he said, tapping her chest right above her heart, “that shone through.”

The heat of her blush travelled up to her ears as Katherine shrugged. “Your painting getting chosen to be permanently displayed was much more impressive.”

Now it was Jack’s turn to duck his head, that shy smile returning. They let the conversation lull; falling into a companionable silence as they traveled through the chilly night.

Most of the storefronts they passed were dark and locked up for the night but they passed a few restaurants and cafes, music and voices spilling out. Jack turned them down a smaller, brick paved alley and Kath noticed a bright spot at the end of the short pedestrian street. Jack’s pace increased and Kath was forced to lengthen her stride slightly to keep up. Her eyes were drawn upward to the strings of lights hung between the buildings and the mosaics on the walls that sparked like stars in the glow. Katherine smiled at the whimsy of it all and Jack caught her eye. He slowed down again, dropping her hand so that she could turn slowly in wonder. Katherine glanced over at him, catching him snapping pictures of her with his phone.

Jack looked up at her sheepishly and tucked his phone back into his coat pocket. “Sorry. You just looked so pretty and I couldn’t help it.”

Katherine walked over to him and pulled him into a kiss, their breath mixing in the cold air as they parted. “As long as they’re social media worthy,” she joked, hands still clasping the lapels of his coat. He gave her a wolfish grin and untangled his hand from where it had wound itself into her hair. He fished his phone out again and flipped the camera before using the arm still wrapped around her waist to pull her back to him. Distantly Kath heard the soft click of the camera’s shutter but she was too busy focused on kissing Jack dizzy.

Katherine pulled away to catch her breath. Jack’s hand with his phone still clutched in it was pressed into her back. He chuckled low in his throat, making her blink and start giggling herself. “Just drive a guy crazy why don’t cha?” Jack muttered, nuzzling into her curls and pressing soft kisses behind her ear.

Katherine smirked, wrapping her arms around his neck and running her fingers up into his hair. “Consider it payback for not telling me where we’re going,” she whispered.

Jack threw his head back as he laughed, leaving his throat perfectly exposed for her to trail a line of kisses down it. He wiggled but didn’t push her away. She stopped and dropped her arms from his shoulders so that he might explain himself. Jack gave her one last hug before letting her go and catching her hand. “We’re here, ya goof.” He led her towards the brightly lit shop and pushed through the door.

Blinking at the sudden light Kath gasped as her eyes adjusted. Jack had taken her to an ice cream parlor. A genuine old-fashioned ice cream parlor with checkered tile and a bar to sit at and rows upon rows of ice creamy goodness under glass.

“I know that it’s a little cold but that just means we get the place practically to ourselves,” Jack said, rubbing at the back of his neck and nodding at the mom and pair of kids at one of the tables and cluster of teenagers at another.

She turned to him with wide eyes. “I love it,” she said in a hushed voice. Katherine could feel her cheeks begin to ache with smiling.

Jack returned her smile and gestured towards one of the stools at the counter. Taking her coat, he draped it across the back with a gentlemanly air. Kath couldn’t help but giggle as Jack settled himself beside her.

A teenaged boy walked over to them from behind the counter and Kath couldn’t help but grin as she noticed the bowtie he wore as a part of his uniform. “Welcome to Sock Hop’s, what can I get yous?” he asked, looking between Kath and Jack.

Jack gestured to her and Kath peered at the blackboard menu behind the boy’s head before craning her neck to glance towards the glass covered freezers. “Can I…?” Katherine motioned towards the freezers as she made a move to get up. The boy shrugged and Kath hopped to her feet. Her eyes widened in excitement at a bucket filled with pink and blue swirls. “Could I have the cotton candy in a waffle cone?”

The boy nodded, grabbing a cone and a scoop. “How many scoops?”

Her gaze shifted to where Jack had moved to study the selections in another case as she worried at her lower lip. “Two?” He nodded and began filling the cone before passing it over to her. Kath resettled herself in her seat as the boy made his way over to Jack. She noticed herself starting to space out as she took a bite out of her ice cream, something that made Darcy and Bill shudder in horror whenever they got ice cream together in high school.

Her mind had thoroughly wandered off in the short amount of time it took for Jack to rejoin her. He nudged her lightly with his shoulder forcing Kath to refocus. A look of concern flashed across his gaze but was quickly replaced by curiosity. “You good?”

“Yeah, sorry,” she replied.

“Nah, don’t worry about it. I was just checking. So? How is it?” Jack nodded towards her ice cream cone as he licked his own.

“Fantastic!”

“Yeah? What’d you get?”

“Cotton candy,” Kath informed him and took another bite.

“You heathen,” Jack gasped in mock disgust. She wasn’t positive if it was at her flavor choice or eating habits. She’d shocked people before with both.

Katherine just shrugged, laughing a bit as Jack smiled. His eyes lit up and his smile grew as he told her about something that happened when he and Spot were helping the school’s head carpenter on the set for the next production. Katherine chuckled at him as she continued to eat, content and happy with her boyfriend.

Jack’s story had come to an end and he was struggling to lick up his now melting ice cream. Kath smirked and got up to search for napkins. He gave her a grateful smile when she returned with a stack and handed them to him.

As he was mopping the last of it off his hand Jack’s brows drew together. “Uh, Kath? There’s actually something I wanted to talk to you about?”

Katherine blinked at him, confused. Jack balled up one of the used napkins in his fist and began to worry at it. He dropped her gaze and his mouth drew together in a light line. Just when Kath was about to tell him to spit it out already Jack spoke again. “I, uh, well I oversaw something on your computer the other day and I just wanted to say that you can trust me if you ever need someone to talk to.”

Katherine felt herself go cold as her heart pounded and her head rushed. Shame flashed to fear to anger in a matter of seconds. “You’re one to talk about trust, Jack ‘My-Past-is-Too-Dark-and-Tragic-to-Mention’ Kelly. Look, I told you that the name I use is Plumber and it is. I don’t get along with my dad and I’m sick of the world judging me on his merits instead of my own so since I had the chance to disassociate myself at college I decided to take it. Not that I owe you any explanation since you’re the one who was spying on my computer.”

Jumping to her feet in a huff Kath nearly knocked over the stool as she stared Jack down. Hurt and confusion shone in his eyes. “Now look, I said it was an accident. And I was going to say that you could tell me that you’re bi, seeing as how you know I am too, but now you’re mad about something else entirely.”

Kath felt like the floor was dropping out from under her. She grabbed her coat and threw it on. “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” she hissed. “Goodnight Jack.” With that she turned on her heel and stormed out of the ice cream parlor. Jack followed her and she could hear him calling after her as she practically jogged down the alley. He let her go though and Katherine managed to hold back the tears until she had rounded the corner.

A mix of guilt, anxiety, fear, and shock had her sobbing by the time she reached her dorm room. Once again she thanked her lucky stars that she had landed a single as she slammed the door; sinking to the floor in a snotty, slightly sweaty puddle and gasping between hiccupping wails. Distantly she heard her phone ping and she fumbled it out of her pocket only to throw it onto her bed. Curling into a ball Kath just let herself cry it out, eventually falling asleep.

When she woke up she was sore from sleeping on the floor and her coat was in desperate need of washing after its sleeves were used as makeshift tissues. She plugged her now dead phone into the charger and went to take a long, hot shower. She tried to wash away the events of the night before; the anger at Jack was the first thing down the drain. Unfortunately, it was the only thing and Katherine was left with the guilt and shame at her actions and fear and nerves as to what would happen next.

After getting dressed she trooped down to the laundry room and stuffed her coat in, nervously reading through a copy of the school’s paper from the previous semester. Kath had already read through it the week it came out; and again when she’d gone home over break and her father picked through it with a fine toothed comb and judgmental tongue. She shuddered at that thought and throw it back onto the table in disgust.

Taking a look around the small space Katherine decided that it was big enough for her to get some stretching in; starting to practice the warmups that had been drilled into her from years of parentally mandated tap classes. Not that she hadn’t enjoyed them. Normally, Kath would work on homework or watch some Netflix as she waited for the laundry. Now though she was avoiding looking at her phone until she absolutely had to and knew that if she didn’t answer her texts after a point people would start messaging her on facebook. The point being that Kath did not want to deal with the full effect of the consequences of her actions just now.

Kath had gotten through her entire warm up routine and was starting on her time steps when she had to switch her coat to the dryer. She continued to dance around in her most beat-up pair of converse – the ones that Bill claimed were held together entirely out of spite and wishful thinking – as her coat tumbled dry. She’d worked her way through her senior solo about six times before she pulled the warm coat out.

Draping it over her shoulders Kath made her way back to her room and tumbled into her bed. She took a fortifying breath before looking at her phone. There was a string of messages from Jack, notifications from tumblr, missed calls from Jack and a voicemail from Crutchie. She ignored everything but the voicemail for the time being and clicked on it before pressing the phone to her ear.

“Hey Kath,” Crutchie’s gentle voice washed over her. “Are you ok? Jack came back to the room kinda freaked out last night and said that you had just left in the middle of the date. I know he’s been trying to get a hold of you but don’t worry about him, the boys and I have got ‘im under control. Just please let me know you’re ok? Spot was threatening to breakdown your door to check on you if needed. You don’t even have to call, just shot me a text. Please Kath? Ok. Thanks. Love ya girlie.”

Kath pushed herself up and off her bed; she grabbed her coat and keys before heading out the door. She sent a text to Crutchie on the way, apologizing for not reaching out sooner and that she’d see him at Jacobi’s in a few. She had highly considered not going to the weekly brunch, but she’d have to face Jack sooner or later and that the group setting might diffuse some of the tension. Or at least that was the theory.

Steeling her nerves she shoved open the door of Jacobi’s, immediately being hit with a cacophony of sound. She grinned at the group of boys shoved into a booth in the back. Crutchie was using his fork to fend off Finch from eating his pancakes while Blink and Mush were trying to toss French fries into Race’s mouth while Albert attempted to catch them himself. Jack and Spot were arguing, though the fact that the others ignored them meant that it wasn’t something serious.

Crutchie noticed her first and waved at her, distracted just long enough to allow Finch to steal a bite of pancake. He turned to glare at Finch as the other boy chewed smugly. She grabbed a chair from a neighboring table when Mr. Jacobi nodded to her in greeting and good-naturedly rolled his eyes at her friends. Katherine dropped her coat onto the back of her seat and lowered herself into it.

“Katherine!” Mush greeted happily, abandoning the fry-toss. “We missed ya last night. I won Mario Kart and then Race won poker, as usual. Could’ve used you, I’d much rather owe you money than this one.” He jerked a thumb at Race who looked appropriately affronted.

Seeing Kath, Jack had dropped his argument with Spot. He grinned at the table. “Sorry fellas, she had a hot date with yours truly,” he tried to meet her eyes but Katherine focused her attention of the plastic topped table.

When she did finally glance up there was concern in his gaze. Katherine’s guilt came rushing back at that and settled in the pit of her stomach. She plastered on the fake smile she had perfected for all of her father’s dinner parties. “Made even hotter by going out for ice cream.”

The boys laughed and someone, probably Blink, whistled. Jack was still trying to see if she was really ok and the tightness in his jaw said that he wanted them to talk about what happened, that he needed answers.

Letting her smile drop Katherine began wringing her hands together. “Actually,” she started nervously and addressed the chipped purple nail polish on her fingers. “I, uh, had a bit of a breakdown last night.”

“Kath,” Jack reached out a hand, linking it with one of hers and squeezing to let her know that she didn’t have to say anything. That they could work things out in private.

Except she owed them this, all of them. She’d spent nearly the whole year giving them lies of omission. She only wished that Specs was here to hear this too.

“So, I haven’t been a hundred percent honest with you guys. Legally my name is Katherine Pulitzer.” She winced, waiting for one of them to say something. When they didn’t she plowed onward. “Pulitzer as in the daughter of Joseph Pulitzer. The owner of _The New York World_. My family is kinda ridiculously loaded,” her hands waved as she continued to ramble. “He’s kinda a jerk and he’s got some very strong views that I don’t agree with but he’s my dad. If that weren’t bad enough I want to be a journalist and he owns one of the biggest papers in the city. So when I came to college I decided to use a pen name and just go by that so I could see if I really was a good writer or if people just said that cause my name was Pulitzer.”

Katherine took in a deep breath and folded her hands into her lap. The boys were all blinking at her in varying degrees of shock. She heard one of the waitstaff approach and then retreat. Kath raised her eyes to meet Jack’s. “I’m sorry I didn’t say anything sooner. I really am.”

Jack nodded at her slowly, reaching for her hand again. “That’s… wow. That’s a lot. And your dad…”

“He’s a dick,” Albert said bluntly.

Spot gave a sharp nod. “I’ve got a knuckle sandwich I’d like ta give ‘im.”

Race snorted into his coffee. “Did you seriously just say knuckle sandwich?”

“I did. What about it?” Spot grumped back.

“Nothing, nothing,” Race sipped at his coffee innocently, mischief sparkling in his eyes.

The exchange made Kath’s lips twitch up. She went back to frowning though when she realized they still hadn’t mentioned the whole heiress bit. “Yeah, we can all agree he’s the worst. Are you guys mad? That I didn’t tell you?”

“The only thing I’m mad about is that I could’ve mooched more lunches off you,” Crutchie quipped.

“I will happily buy you all the Chipotle you could want,” Kath practically sighed in relief.

“Uh no you won’t,” Jack’s eye widened as he looked between his girlfriend and his brother. “I’ve gotta live with him.”

They all laughed at that and Katherine felt the tension from the air and her shoulders dissipate.

“Although,” Jack started with a shit eating grin, “you could buy the winner of our little frisbee match lunch. Since Spot and I don’t get paid until the end of the week and we’ve been buying you lunch for ages.”

Katherine laughed and nodded. “You boys have got a deal.”

Spot and Jack grinned at each other and Spot settled back into the booth. “In that case, someone wave over the waiter cause I’ve got some lobster to order.”

Jack leaned over and kissed her on the cheek as Blink laughed. “That is disgusting. Diner lobster? Seriously?” Spot shrugged and lifted his eyebrows in a challenge. They all laughed and Spot smirked and shot a wink at Kath.

Jack offered her his hand as they left the diner and Kath happily took it. They fell back as the gaggle of boys headed back towards campus.

“So?” Jack started. “You good?”

Kath nodded but it turned into a shrug. “I’m sorry about last night,” she mumbled.

“I shouldn’t have looked at your computer,” Jack replied easily.

“But I just ran without explanation and then today I admit to lying to you and I’m sorry,” Kath trailed off. She was scared. So very very scared. She thinks she knows exactly what Jack saw but in her initial reaction she’d been too distracted to realize it. She thought that he was going to bring it up again and that was the last thing she wanted at the moment.

“Katherine. Kath, look at me.” Jack stopped and pulled them to edge of the sidewalk, out of the way of passerby’s. “I’ll admit that I’m a little hurt that you didn’t trust me, but you made a decent point last night about me. I’d-” Jack rubbed at the back of his neck as he ducked his head slightly. Fiddling with his baseball cap before meeting her gaze again, “I’d like to change that.”

Kath’s dread slunk back to the corners of her mind at his words. As she fully registered what he was saying she was filled with sudden affection. Leaning up onto her toes she pressed a quick kiss to his lips and they shared a smile.

Over the course of the week Kath found herself and Jack growing closer as they shared stories about their childhoods. Their vastly different childhoods. In so many ways.

For their next date night they were re-binging Queer Eye, snuggled up on her bed. Prompted by the events of the show Jack nudged Kath to get her attention. “Have I ever told you how I came out?”

Kath furrowed her eyebrows in nervous confusion. “I- I don’t think so.”

“Well I figured it out pretty early, ‘bout sophomore year of high school, and I’d been living with Medda for a while then. She officially adopted me not long after actually,” Jack said thoughtfully. “But yeah. There was this senior who was like the star of our high school’s drama club and he actually did the community summer shows Medda ran. The one day I was hanging out backstage with him and it just kinda hit me that I had a crush on him. So as soon as I got home I pulled Medda aside and told her that I thought I was gay.” Jack smiled at the memory and continued. “She laughed at me. Said that I might be a little gay but she’d seen the way I looked at the chorus girls when she’d done Chicago. So she introduced me to the concept of bisexuality and was super supportive and just gave me all the resources and love I could ask for.”

Kath buried closer into Jack’s side as he finished talking. She’d never once actually _said_ she was bi. Sure she was out and proud on her little corner of the internet. But neither of her blogs were actually attached to her name. Not one single person actually knew that Katherine Pulitzer was bi.

Except maybe Jack.

Who was also bi.

Who had a mom who supported his coming out.

While she wasn’t sure how her mom would react she could guess how her dad would. And it wasn’t pretty.

On her laptop the episode ended and the screen asking if they were still watching popped up. Kath didn’t cry often – she hated it with a passion – and yet for the second time in the course of a week she found tears streaming down her cheeks. Jack noticed and tucked her closer into his side, making soft shushing noises and rubbing circles into her back. Turning her head, Kath nuzzled her face into Jack’s shoulder.

She began hiccupping and cursing between the sharp intakes of breath. Jack was kissing the curls on the top of her head and she could feel him laughing at her more creative combinations of expletives. Spending so much time studying around Race was really starting to pay off for her.

Kath pulled away from Jack slightly and wiped at her eyes with the corner of her duvet. She took a deep shuddering breath, lifting her head so that she could look Jack in the eye.

“Jack,” she started, but her voice came out as a croak from the tears. Clearing her throat Katherine tried again. “Jack, I’ve never told anyone this before and I don’t really want to tell anyone else just yet but I want to tell you.” She swallowed once. Jack gave her a little half nod of encouragement. “I’m bisexual.”

Jack grinned, kissing her quickly on the forehead. “Well I can assure you that you’re in good company.”

“My father wouldn’t exactly agree with you on that,” she muttered dryly.

“Yeah well,” Jack grumbled. He had some strong opinions on her dad, some that he had formed long before he even met her.

“Can we just keep this between us? For just a little while longer? I haven’t even thought about telling Darcy or Bill yet and they’re practically family.”

“’Course. And thanks for trusting me enough to tell me. It really means a lot Kath.”

Katherine nodded and sniffled. “C’mon, let’s watch one more,” she said as she leaned forward to tap play.

They’d fallen asleep cuddled up on her bed and both got up with a jolt when Katherine’s alarm clock went off. She groaned as she slapped it off. Jack rolled out of bed and searched around for his shoes. Kath sat up and stretched, Jack had the weekly frisbee game and she was going to cover an event for the paper. Jack was ready to go before she was, eager to stop by his own room before heading to the park. She wished him luck and kissed him goodbye. As he was closing the door he poked his head back in.

“Hey Kath? I just want you to know that I love you.”

An involuntary grin split her face as she replied “I love you too.” With one last smile Jack was gone.

Kath made it to Jacobi’s after the boys again. Jack shoved Race out of the booth to make room for her beside him. Katherine giggled as Race begrudgingly grabbed himself a chair. Slipping into the booth next to him Jack slid an arm around her shoulders easily.

“How was the game?” she asked curiously, snatching a fry off of Spot’s plate.

“Good! You can eat as many of those as you want cause Spot is doing his best Eponine this week and is on his own,” Jack shot a mean flash of teeth at his brother who grumbled and slid his plate further away from Kath.

Jack walked her back to her room again, an oddly excited spring in his step the whole way. She was fishing her key out of her coat pocket when Jack practically threw himself in front of her door.

“Hold up a second,” Jack said. He looked way too happy for Kath’s taste. She’d seen his pranks and did not want to be on the receiving end of one. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

“And how, pray tell, did you get into my room for this little ‘surprise’?” Katherine’s keys jingled as she made air quotes with them still clutched in her hand.

“I thought we already went over how I learned to pick a lock?” Jack quirked an eyebrow and Kath rolled her eyes.

He gestured that she unlock the door and then came up behind her to cover her eyes. Gently, Kath was led into her dorm room. She heard the click of the door shut behind them and then the flick of the light switch.

“Alright, open ‘em!” Jack said excitedly.

Kath did as instructed and gasped. Draped up above her bed was a pride flag. A Bi pride flag in all its pink, purple, and blue glory. She turned to Jack with a grin and hugged him, unintelligibly murmuring her thanks into his neck.


End file.
